Device for attaching flexible materials to roofs and sides of buildings.



No. 757,193. PATENT-ED APR. 12, 1904. A v F. s. HOWARD. I DEVICE FORATTAGHINGQFLEXIBLE MATERIALS TO ROOFS AND SIDES OF BUILDINGS.

APPLICATION FILED 0013.8, 1903.

N0 MODEL- u are. 757,193.

llwirn rates Patented April 12, 1904..

FRANK S. HOWARD, OF LOMBARD, ILLINOIS.

DEVICE FOR ATTACHlNG FLEXIBLE MATERlALS T0 RDOFS AND SlDES 0F BUlLDltlGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,193, dated'April12, 1904. Application filed October 8, N03. Serial No. 176,242. (Nomodel.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FILANK'S. HOWARD, of Lombard in the county of Dupageand State of Illinois have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Devices for Attaching Flexible Materials to Roofs and Sides ofBuildings, of which the following is a full,

clear, and exact description.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a device for fastening felt,paper, or other flexible material to the sheathing on roofs and sides ofbuildings which shall lessen the expense of attaching the same, increasethe ciliciency of the result, and be more expeditious than the methodsheretofore in use,

making a joint reliably weather-tight at allpoints. I

In the drawings accompanying this specification and made a parthereof,Figure 1 is a side view of a continuous-form of my device, showing thecurves perpendicular to the plane of the roof or other surface to whichthe device may be attached. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same form ofdevice. Fig. 3 represents a side view of another form of my device, asingle section made of wire and bent in convolutions to give greaterwidth and strength. Fig. 4 is a plan .view of the same form of deviceshown in Fig.

in the drawings, (.1 (6 a are loops for nails.

7) 6 7) are points of contact with the material to be held in placebefore the nails are driven in and the device is drawn down and appliedat all points thereby.

A indicates the surface of the roofing to which the device is about tobe applied.

0 are convolutions, one-half inch, more or less, in length, to increasethe width and strength of the separate sections when wire is used.

d d d are short upward bends or turns at the extreme end of the detachedsections to avoid puncturing the materialto which the device is applied.

The ordinary method of securing i'elt or other flexible roofings to theroofing or sheathing board's by making a fiat lap of'two inches, more orless, using a cement or paint between the layers forming the laps andthen nalling.the laps to the sheathing, using tin disks or caps, throughwhich the nails are driven. By this method there is left between theedges of the caps a part of the lap that is not pressed tightlytogether. Roofing laid in this manner often has buckles or wrinkles}between the edges of the caps, the laps often separating and allowingthe water to run in, easily if the seams or laps are madelongitu."dinally with the pitch of the roof or allowing the water to beat orcreep in when the scams or laps are made transversely to the pitch ofthe roof. My device presses and pinches the two or more layers ofroofing or otherv material forming the laps or seamscontinuouslythroughout the entire length, so that no water can run,creep, or beat in. When nails and caps are used, it frequently. occursalso that nails are driven'into the cracks between i thesheathing-boards, making holes through the roofing or siding. This hascaused a great deal of trouble and is one of tl'reflgreat faults,particularly in the presentpranner of sec1iring roofing to buildings. Bymy device this trouble may be practically obviated. .iioof lug-boardsare usually of widths in an even number of inches-that is to say, theyare generally either six inches, eight inches, or ten inches in width orsome other number of inches divisible by two. In my device the distancesbetween the nails can be so fixed that by starting at a certain distancefrom a crack between the boards no nails will be driven into any of thecracks.

My device is preferably made of wire of suitable thickness, and ii thewire is of suiiiciently large diameter it may be usedto advantage bymerely bending the wire at suitable intervals into loops. as shown at aa a, to receive the nails by which it is to be held in place. A smallerwire may be used and the elliciency of the device increased by causingthe wire to be bent or formed in curves that will be both longitudinaland latitudinal with the roofing-boards, with loops at regular intervalsfor the nails to be driven through. Between each of the loops there is adrop curve, so that when the nails are driven the wire, being drawn down,thereby, brings a sure the entire length of the seam or lap.

a in the application of this device.

- has been without any device by which it was a carpets such result,unless exaggerated, would not attract attention; but in the roofing orsiding of buildings such irregularities, too slight to be detected evenby careful inspection, admit moisture in sufficient quantities to entailserious and expensive consequences.

My device provides by the peculiar for mation of the strip a scientificand reliable means for effectually closing the joints at every point andis thus an improvement upon the devices now and heretofore in use.

Straight wire also has been used as a continuous binder, beingdouble-pointed tacks or staples; but such an application to roofing orsiding purposes is not admissible for the reason that each doublepointedtack or staple. so driven perforates the roofing material twice andmakes two openings, which are left uncovered, and each staple becomesaconductor to lead water through the roofing or siding in two places. Allsuch openings must be covered. My device avoids this serious fault byhaving loops in the wire through which a nail having a broad'head may bedriven, closing the opening in the loops and shedding all the water,which would otherwise follow the nail thr zwh.

I. A continigoi binder, of wire or other suitable material, curved in aplane perpendicular to the plane of the roof or other surface to whichit may be applied, with loops or enlargements in a plane parallel to thesurface to which it may be applied at suitable intervals to receivenails, substantially as, and for the purpose shown and described.

2. A continuous binder of wire or other suitable material, formed oncurves in a plane parallel ,to the plane of the roof, when in place, andalso formed on curves perpendicular to the plane of the roof when inplace, with loops at suitable intervals to receive nails, substantiallyas and for the purpose shown and described.

3. Abinder of wire formed in convolutions in.a plane! parallel with theplane of the roof when in p ace, having a loop in the middle to receivea nail, and curved perpendicularly to the plane of the roof,andhavingeach extogether, forming a water-tight lap or seamcontinuously. It is proposed to make the device in lengths of threefeet, more or less, or it can be put up in rolls and cut off at the endof a seam or lap as used, or it may be used in single separatedsections, as shown. When single sections or three-feet lengths are used,the ends of each section'or length are buttjointed -that is to say, theend of one section is placed against the end of the sectionalready inplace-thus forming continuous pres- The device is economical in cost andwill also save labor, as when ordinary caps are used each cap must beplaced in the right positionbefore being nailed, whereas with my devicewhen the first nail is driven the places for all the remaining nails aredetermined, the loops being in place to receive the nails. Also thedistance between nails may be increased and both nails and labor savedthereby.

The device may be, if so desired, used in individual sections by beingcut midway between the loops. To avoid possibility of puncturing thematerial to which the device may be applied, each end of'every section,whatever its length, is bent upward, oneeighth of an inch beingsufficient for this purpose. v a

My device may be made in a variety of forms and from divers materials,and it is not my intention to limit this patent to the particular formsand'materials specified. It may be used in single sections, as shown inFigs. 3 and 4, of any desired length and with a great variety ofmodification in detail. The convolutions may be multiplied to anydesired number or may be limited to a single convolution on each side ofthe middle loop a, (see Figs. 3 and 4,) leaving the remainder of thesection straight. When used in single section, one form of which isshown in Figs. 3 and 4, additional loops for nails may be substitutedfor the short upward turns d a, and this is preferable should sectionsabout a foot long be used. Other similar modifications of fornrwillreadily suggest themselves I am aware that continuous strips have beenused in various forms to fasten'down carpets and other flexiblematerial, and I make no claim upon theuse of a continuous strip. In allsuch cases as heretofore applied, the strip roof, substantially as, andfor the purposes shown and described.

' In testimony that I claim the'foregoing as made especially to press orbind at any point 3d day of October, A. D. 1903.

except those at which the .nails were driven, FRANK S. HOWARD. thestripin the intervals being itself subject In presence ofto slack, buckle, orwarp and permit wrinkles SAMUEL J. LUMBARD,

and folds in the material beneath. In laying GERTRUDE L. N EFF.

fastened in place by treme end bent and turned upward from the myinvention I hereby afiix my signature this

